Black Friday will kick off busy holiday shopping season

Shopping centers in the Coastal Bend are gearing up for scores of Black Thursday and Black Friday bargain hunters. Thousands of shoppers are expected to descend on malls, electronics stores and other retail centers looking for gifts.
Chris Ramirez/Caller-Times

It sounds like a one-day event, but make no mistake about it – the Black Friday shopping season is a much longer affair.

Thanksgiving isn’t just a day for turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. It also is the official kick-start of the holiday shopping season. Retailers this year began offering sales ahead of the Black Friday holiday, but additional and more extensive deals will be available beginning the afternoon of Thanksgiving in some places, which will carry through Black Friday.

Additionally, shoppers will be able to take advantage of deals after Thanksgiving through Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Here are some of the trends retailers are expecting this Thanksgiving shopping weekend:

Shoppers want to spend

Consumer confidence appears to be rising, and people are willing to spend more this year. According to a survey from the National Retail Federation, an estimated 164 million Americans are expected to shop during Thanksgiving weekend, according to the Washington-based National Retail Federation, which tracks consumer trends.

The agency predicts they each will spend more than $960, or 3 percent over what they did the year before.

This weekend is expected to kick-start a holiday shopping season that will see an increase by as much as 4 percent to $682 billion from last year. Helping that will be the fact that Christmas is falling on a Monday this year, giving shoppers an extra weekend to grab last-minute gifts before the holiday.

According to the NRF survey, 46 percent of young adults (18-24 years old) will show an increase in spending this holiday season.

The survey cited a majority of total respondents (54 percent) who said they planned to spend the same amount of money this holiday shopping season as they did last year.

"As Gen Z and Millennials gets older, their purchasing power increases, and the rise in disposable income is sure to be seen by retailers," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "This group of consumers has spent time carefully researching gifts for friends, family and themselves, and are ready to begin knocking out their shopping lists."

Younger shoppers also will use the opportunity to further relationships with family or friends, as well as connect with new people, said Proper Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow, who helped organize the survey.

"For Gen Z, the holiday shopping weekend is a can't-miss opportunity," she said. "This group overwhelmingly sees in-store shopping as a valuable way to connect with others, be it friends, family or store associates at their favorite retailers."

In the growing trend of shopping online versus visiting a brick-and-mortar store, this year will see the highest level of internet retail activity.

Nearly 60 percent of consumers will do their shopping online this holiday season. Last year, Cyber Monday generated $3.36 billion in purchases, according to software company Adobe. That haul made it the largest online sales day in history.

Despite the shift to online shopping, many local retailers will offer in-store events or deals that they hope will bring people to their stores.

In Robstown, vendors are gearing up for what will be the first Black Friday shopping weekend at the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay, the 330,000-square-foot outdoor mall that opened in March. The mall is hosting a “Food Truck Christmas Village” on Saturday that includes music from local bands and photos with Santa at the Jolly Stage & Santa's Elves Play Zone.

Vendors are also pulling out all the stops to welcome shoppers at key stores in La Palmera mall.

The mall itself will be closed, but J.C. Penney and Macy’s, its two anchor stores, will open late Thanksgiving Day at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. Shoppers will need to enter the stores through the outer doors of each.

Other stores, including American Eagle, Forever 21, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, will open Friday. Mall doors open that day at 6 a.m.

Popular gifts this holiday season

According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular presents this shopping season will be gift cards (61 percent), followed by clothing and accessories (55 percent).

Holiday shoppers will purchase an average of four gift cards with an average value of $45 per card, with spending on gift cards projected to increase slightly this year to $27.6 billion. The most popular types of gift cards include those for restaurants (36 percent) and department stores (33 percent).

A man raffles through a bin of DVDs at Best Buy, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. (Photo: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)

Tips to avoid buyer's remorse

Here’s some tips from the Better Business Bureau on how not to get stung by a bad purchase or get the best deal this weekend:

Don’t rely on ads alone.Do price comparisons and read the fine print on items you intend to buy.

Keep your receipts and learn store return policies. Check store or website policies on returns in advance. This can help you decide where to buy. Return policies may include restocking fees, shorter return deadlines and other terms and conditions.

Ask for gift receipts.Gift receipts generally include a description of the item purchased but do not disclose the price paid. Without proof-of-purchase, the recipient may be turned down for returning or exchanging the item, or risk receiving an exchange at a lower value.

Consider buying local. Saturday is Small Business Saturday, a day that encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick-and-mortar businesses that are small and local. Such shops may be offering special bargains that day.

Buy Photo

Toys fill a section on the second floor of JCPenney on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. This is the first year JC Penney will be selling toys for the holiday season.
(Photo: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)